Kamloops Mounties are pleading with the public to help them stop any photos that may exist of a teen’s alleged sexual assault at a bush party from spreading through social media.

Police said the 17-year-old girl became separated from her friends at the party Tuesday night, which about 1,000 high-schoolers attended, according to police. A stranger approached her, took her into a wooded area and sexually assaulted her. When the teen arrived home from the party, she told her parents what happened and they took her to hospital and called police.

“The biggest focus is not revictimizing the victim,” said Kamloops RCMP spokesman Staff Sgt. Grant Learned. “The victim — who has already been devastated by the initial attack — is then revictimized to have her image distributed electronically through Facebook and other social media.

“How do you account for the damage that this does on top of what the victim has already been through?”

The police plea was issued because of a similar incident at an now infamous Pitt Meadows rave three years ago. RCMP at that time learned of the alleged assault after graphic photographs appeared on Facebook.

Hundreds of teens and young adults attended “Another Night in Bangkok,” a party held on a farm on Sept. 10, 2010.

Six days later, police called a press conference to stop the distribution of photographs that were spreading “like wildfire” on the Internet, and used strong words to describe the alleged assault.

At a news conference on Wednesday, RCMP Cpl. Cheryl Bush said witnesses who may have photographs or videos of Tuesday’s incident should not post them online.

“If you have photos of this incident you are now being told that it was a criminal act, so you now know that what you do with those photos could have implications down the road,” Bush said.

“We’re really asking the young citizens of Kamloops who may have participated in this event to be responsible and do the right thing, talk to your peers, come forward to the police, and let’s not make this go any further than it already has.”

Learned said police set up roadblocks to search for illegal possession of alcohol and drugs, like ecstasy and marijuana, at the perimeter of Tuesday’s party, but there were so many people that shutting it down wasn’t feasible.

Earlier this spring, Dennis Warrington — a Maple Ridge man who admitted to distributing images of a teenage girl having sex at the 2010 rave — was given a conditional discharge, 18 months probation, and 120 hours of community service.

Warrington, 21, pleaded guilty last December to the lesser charge of distributing obscene matter via Facebook. He was initially charged with publishing and distributing child pornography.

A 16-year-old boy had taken eight photos and a video of two people engaged in sex acts, which Warrington then posted to his own Facebook account.

He called his own actions “thoughtless and supremely immature” and said he would always regret what he did in an apology to the victim in Port Coquitlam provincial court.

“I did not realize the power (social media) held until it was used irresponsibly. ... Just a few clicks and it changed your life and how the world viewed the person that you are,” Warrington said.

The complainant said the sex acts were not consensual.

“Your actions actually ruined my life,” the 18-year-old woman told Warrington in court, sobbing. “You destroyed the person that I used to be.”

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